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Showing posts from April, 2023

Twitter will let media publishers charge per article starting in May

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Keep media companies paid while regularly antagonizing them is definitely a strategy. | Illustration by Kristen Radtke / The Verge; Getty Images Full-time Twitter CEO and part-time Tesla enthusiast Elon Musk said on Saturday that users of his social media platform will be able to avoid media subscriptions and pay per article starting “next month.” Musk says that Twitter’s forthcoming “one-click” service “should be a major win-win for both media orgs & the public” by allowing media companies to charge a higher per article price to readers who wouldn’t necessarily pay a full subscription rate. Musk didn’t say what percentage Twitter would pocket for itself or what conditions media publishers would need to abide by. Rolling out next month, this platform will allow media publishers to charge users on a per article basis with one click. This enables users who would not sign up for a... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/SHZpM8x

The Stream Deck mastered the LCD key by making it peripheral

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Photo by Dan Seifert / The Verge Like many great products, the Elgato Stream Deck wasn’t exactly a new idea. When the very first one debuted six years ago this month , we instantly compared it to Art Lebedev’s legendary Optimus Maximus keyboard, which promised an array of swirling OLED screens under your fingertips an entire decade earlier. Razer, too, pioneered LCD keys before their time, tacking them onto a keyboard and the company’s very first Blade laptop . But today, we’re celebrating the simple genius of Elgato — the company that finally turned them into a viable product by making them relatively cheap, comfy, and most importantly: peripheral . Art Lebedev and Razer both believed we wanted a new keyboard that morphs, where our primary computing input mechanism... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/0TpgKOk

The entire Super Mario Bros. movie keeps getting posted to Twitter

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Whoops. It’s a long-standing belief here at The Verge that copyright law is the only real law on the internet, because it’s the only speech regulation most people on most platforms will accept. (At least in the United States.) Post something that blatantly infringes someone else’s copyright, and most platforms will spring into action to take it down, because they are protected from liability under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act if they take action in a reasonable amount of time upon request. And the way the DMCA influences user behavior on platforms is really well-known: we have been writing about “no copyright intended” for over a decade now . There are lots of and lots of people out there who know how it works. Anyway, Elon Musk isn’t... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/KWoSFnP

Quick fixes: use Google Chrome to link text inside any webpage

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Illustration by Samar Haddad / The Verge The Issue It’s probably happened to all of us: you want to link to a really interesting factoid in a really long article — but you can’t be sure that the people reading your social network or blog entry will be able to find the factoid in all that text. You could simply take a screenshot of the factoid, but then you’re not linking to the original article, which is both bad internet etiquette and not as effective in showing your source material. Or you can take the screenshot and throw in the link, which is better but awkward. Or... Quick Fix Use the Chrome browser’s Copy Link to Highlight feature. Right click on a highlighted section to see the Copy Link to Highlight option. The full story When you’re a writer or... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/FzU9Afa

Instagram is testing songs in photo carousels

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Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Instagram is testing a new feature that will let you add songs to the photo carousels you post to the platform. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the news on his Instagram broadcast channel , noting that it’s already available in a “few countries with more to come.” While Instagram already has a similar feature that lets you add songs to individual photos, I feel like it makes more sense to add to a carousel of pictures. Instead of listening to a music clip while looking at a single photo, you now have more time to listen to the song as you swipe through multiple photos in a carousel. Image: Instagram Here’s how it looks when you add a song to a Note. Aside from that, Zuckerberg also mentioned that Instagram is... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/k81ij6A

Lawmakers propose banning AI from singlehandedly launching nuclear weapons

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge American Department of Defense policy already bans artificial intelligence from autonomously launching nuclear weapons. But amid rising fears of AI spurred by a plethora of potential threats, a bipartisan group of lawmakers has decided to make extra-double-sure it can’t. As announced earlier this week , Senator Edward Markey (D-MA) and Representatives Ted Lieu (D-CA), Don Beyer (D-VA), and Ken Buck (R-CO) have introduced the Block Nuclear Launch by Autonomous AI Act , which would “prohibit the use of Federal funds to launch a nuclear weapon using an autonomous weapons system that is not subject to meaningful human control.” The act would codify existing Pentagon rules for nuclear weapons, which, as of 2022, read thusly: “In all cases, the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/7S891gZ

ChatGPT returns to Italy after ban

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Illustration: The Verge ChatGPT maker OpenAI has restored access to its service in Italy, saying it has implemented changes to satisfy Italian regulators. “ChatGPT is available again to our users in Italy,” it said in a statement published by The Associated Press and also sent to The Verge. “We are excited to welcome them back, and we remain dedicated to protecting their privacy.” OpenAI said it had “addressed or clarified” the issues raised by the Italian Data Protection Authority (or GPDP) in late March. The GPDP accused ChatGPT of unlawfully collecting users’ data and failing to prevent underage users from accessing inappropriate material, leading OpenAI to block ChatGPT in the country. The company was given 20 days to address the issues, and regulators said... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/rnqXpiv

Mitsubishi wants to be the world’s carbon broker

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Pedestrians walk past the front of Mitsubishi Motors Corp. headquarters office in Tokyo on Thursday, June 23rd, 2005. | Photo by Haruyoshi Yamaguchi / Bloomberg via Getty Images Mitsubishi wants to be the world’s biggest dealer of carbon removal credits. Keep in mind that the company has its hand in many of the most polluting industries out there — from producing cars to natural gas, coal, petrochemicals and plastics. And carbon credits have become a popular way for corporations to keep on polluting while claiming to fight climate change. This week, the company announced a joint venture to set up what it says is the world’s biggest portfolio of carbon removal credits. The credits represent tons of carbon dioxide taken out of the atmosphere through a range of still contentious tactics for dealing with climate change. Carbon credits have become a popular way for corporations to keep on polluting while claiming to... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://if

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is a gorgeous spectacle that confuses schmaltz for sentimentality

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Image: Marvel Studios James Gunn’s third Guardians movie is packed with stunning set pieces, but its saccharine attempts at sentimentality and a by-the-numbers plot keep it from ever reaching lift-off. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2YqXLa0

Now you can pay a monthly fee to un-nerf your electric Mercedes

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EQE and EQS electric sedans. | Image: Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz has new finalized pricing on its vexing “Acceleration Increase” subscription revealed last year that can eke out more electric performance — without any physical modification — from the automaker’s current EQE and EQS EV models, Car and Driver reports . The updated Acceleration Increase pricing starts at $60 per month, or you can save about $120 and pay $600 per year instead. That pricing only applies to the AWD EQE 350 sedan and its SUV counterpart . Meanwhile, the pricier AWD EQS 450 car and SUV command a higher $90 per month (or $900 per year) rate for their own boost. Mercedes-Benz had initially set the subscription at $1,200 per year, but now it’s been reduced a bit to a slightly-less-unreasonable rate. The automaker is... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/PbyE2kr

YouTube Music is officially rolling out podcasts

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Illustration: Alex Castro / The Verge Podcasts have finally started to arrive for YouTube Music users in the US. The change will allow you to tune into podcasts on the YouTube Music app, where you can gain access to on-demand, offline streams that support background listening without a Premium subscription. YouTube first announced that it was bringing podcasts to its music streaming service at The Verge ’s Hot Pod Summit in February, and now it’s “gradually” rolling out to users. The YouTube Music app will now have a dedicated podcast tab where you can browse through shows that were once limited to the main YouTube app. You can also swap between the audio and video versions of a podcast while using YouTube Music. podcast creators , welcome to @YouTubeMusic ✨ podcasts... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/r7eGlzm

Clubhouse is laying off more than half of its workforce

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Image: Clubhouse Clubhouse, the app that sparked a wave of audio-only features, is laying off over 50 percent of its employees. The app’s co-founders, Paul Davison and Rohan Seth, shared the news in a memo to employees , where they emphasize a need to “reset” the company in a post-covid era. “As the world has opened up post-Covid, it’s become harder for many people to find their friends on Clubhouse and to fit long conversations into their daily lives,” the founders write. “To find its role in the world, the product needs to evolve. This requires a period of change.” In their memo, Davison and Seth say they’ve been unable to make things work with the current size of Clubhouse’s team, noting that it’s “difficult” to “communicate the strategy to... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Dac9oVe

Microsoft is done with major Windows 10 updates

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Windows 10 22H2 will be the final version of the operating system, Microsoft said in a blog post on Thursday . Moving forward, all editions of Windows 10 will be supported with monthly security updates until October 14th, 2025, when Microsoft will end support. (Some releases on the Long-Term Servicing Channel, or LTSC, will get updates past that end of support date.) Microsoft is encouraging users to now transition to Windows 11 because Windows 10 won’t be getting any new features. Windows client roadmap update! Key takeaways: 1 - #Windows10 will reach EOS on October 14, 2025. 2 - Version 22H2 will be the final version of Windows 10. 3 - You'll see the next #Windows11 LTSC release in the second half of 2024. Read the announcement: h... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2wAVsE6

Dril is now on Bluesky

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“1337” seems appropriate. | Screenshot by Jay Peters / The Verge Dril has joined Bluesky. The invite-only decentralized Twitter alternative has been gaining steam in recent days — I’ve seen a lot of people I follow on the bird-themed social network start to show up on Bluesky. But the Twitter clone might truly begin to feel like a New Twitter now that Dril, the Twitter legend who recently gave an interview as his real-life human self , has officially joined the platform. There’s nothing on Dril’s Bluesky profile that makes it absolutely clear that it’s really him. (He hasn’t tied a domain name to his handle , for example.) Dril has posted once, but it’s an extremely not-safe-for-work post that I will not be including here. But Paul Frazee, a staff engineer at Bluesky, confirmed Thursday that the Dril... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/LfD4I1V

Microsoft’s mice, keyboards, and webcams are being discontinued in favor of Surface accessories

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Microsoft-branded keyboards will be a thing of the past. | Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge Microsoft will no longer manufacture mice, keyboards, and webcams that are Microsoft-branded. Instead, Microsoft is now focusing on its Surface-branded PC accessories, which include mice, keyboards, pens, and more. It brings an end to the legacy of Microsoft-branded PC hardware after the company first launched its first mouse in 1983 and bundled it with Microsoft Word and Notepad. “Going forward, we are focusing on our Windows PC accessories portfolio under the Surface brand,” says Dan Laycock, senior communications manager at Microsoft, in a statement to The Verge . “We will continue to offer a range of Surface branded PC Accessories — including mice, keyboards, pens, docks, adaptive accessories, and more. Existing Microsoft branded PC... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/7v403Ns

Mark Zuckerberg says Meta wants to ‘introduce AI agents to billions of people’

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Meta sees “an opportunity to introduce AI agents to billions of people in ways that will be useful and meaningful,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg told investors today. While he was vague about how exactly Meta will add generative AI to its apps, Zuckerberg gave the most detailed preview yet during the company’s earnings call for the first quarter of this year, when it reported $28.6 billion in revenue and a record 2 billion daily users of the Facebook app, beating Wall Street’s estimates. Meta’s profit for the quarter was $5.7 billion, a 24 percent decrease from the same time last year. “We’re exploring chat experiences in WhatsApp and Messenger, visual creation tools for posts in Facebook and Instagram and ads, and over time video and multi-modal... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/EF6t5cP

Google Meet finally supports 1080p video calls

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Illustration: The Verge Google Meet finally supports 1080p video calls — but only for paying subscribers. In an update on Wednesday , Google says it’s bringing the upgrade to select Workspace and Google One users. Additionally, you can only access 1080p video calls on the web-based version of Google Meet, and it all depends on whether your computer’s webcam actually supports the resolution. Google also notes that you’ll need additional bandwidth to send 1080p video and says that it will automatically adjust your resolution if bandwidth is “constrained.” Image: Google The feature isn’t enabled by default, but you can toggle it on by selecting the three dots in the top right corner of your video feed and then hitting Turn on HD video . Since... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/kdJjq84

Ayaneo 2S will officially be one of the first Steam Deck rivals with Ryzen 7000

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The existing Ayaneo 2. The new 2S looks much the same. | Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge Z1 Extreme who? Ayaneo has just confirmed it will use AMD’s similar but unannounced Ryzen 7000 U-series chips in a new batch of handheld gaming PCs — including the never-before-seen Ayaneo 2S and Ayaneo Geek 1S, the previously announced sliding keyboard Ayaneo Slide, and a new version of the Ayaneo Air Plus. What’s more, the company is now promising upgrades for its existing PCs instead of just rapidly making them obsolete — it will offer a free speaker upgrade for every Ayaneo Air and a free cooling module for every Ayaneo 2 and Ayaneo Geek that can lower its temperature by up to 12 degrees Celsius. Image: Ayaneo via Webandme ( Discord ) Image: Ayaneo via Webandme ( Discord ) The new three-pipe... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/f0YM98A

WiZ’s inexpensive smart lights now work with Apple Home thanks to Matter

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WiZ’s inexpensive smart lighting line now works with Apple Home through Matter. | Image: Signify Smart lighting company WiZ has updated all its smart bulbs, lamps, and plugs manufactured in early 2021 or later to Matter , beating its sister brand Philips Hue to the punch. The company’s new app, WiZ v2, now lets users migrate any compatible product to the new smart home standard directly in the app and, from there, add them to any Matter-compatible platform, including Apple Home. Previously, the WiZ smart lighting line was only compatible with Apple’s smart home platform through Siri Shortcuts. Now, with Matter, many of its products can be added to the Apple Home app and controlled along with any other product supported by Apple Home. Signify, which owns both brands, has said Philips Hue will also be Matter compatible, but that u... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/gTwL7cP

New bill would add mandatory age verification to social networks

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Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge A group of US senators has revealed a bipartisan bill that would require social media platforms to verify users’ ages, stop anyone under 13 years of age from signing up, and set up special rules for minors over 13. It would also require the government to test out a voluntary nationwide verification system that would use official records and IDs to check people’s ages online. The bill, the “Protecting Kids on Social Media Act,” was introduced by Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Chris Murphy (D-CT), and Katie Britt (R-AL) on Wednesday. It’s designed to protect younger users from things like social media addiction , but it would also require a sweeping reevaluation of how adults and children operate online. There are... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/KDnAivr

Should we trust Apple with mental health data?

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Is Apple really good for your health? | Illustration by Nick Barclay / The Verge Here are some cursed words: “Apple Plans AI-Powered Health Coaching Service, Mood Tracker and iPad Health App.” I can see why you might say, Liz, this sounds benign and obvious. What’s the big deal? And I think about a meeting I had in 2014 with a freelance writer who was wearing three fitness trackers, inadvertently imitating Madonna’s 1980s stacked bracelets look. He asked me how I slept. I was — and am — a pretty good sleeper. I snooze heavily for seven to eight hours and wake up feeling good, sometimes even before my alarm goes off because I am (sorry) a morning person. The freelancer I’d been speaking to, perhaps obviously, had been having trouble sleeping, and as someone who was fairly devoted to optimizing his life through fitness... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/c1KHm0l

Google ups Chromebook privacy with new camera and mic switch

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Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Google is adding new systemwide camera and microphone access toggles in ChromeOS settings that can instantly block all apps and sites from being able to use them. The new systemwide privacy controls cut off the rest of the computer’s access to the hardware, which, for all intents and purposes, is a software replacement to the physical camera and mic kill switch one can find on various PC laptops. But instead of adding hardware switches that cut power to the camera, like on Framework’s Chromebook or even a simple plastic sliding gate that obscures the lens, Chromebook manufacturers can simplify the laptop design and use the built-in ChromeOS solution instead. Of course, there’s nothing more secure than a full-on severance of power to the... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/v0PutVw

Google’s search business is feeling the heat

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Illustration: The Verge Google’s search revenues inched upward in the first quarter of 2023 after years of rapid growth, suggesting the tech giant might be facing some difficulties with its golden goose. In an earnings release today, Google reported its “search & other” revenues were up 1.87 percent year over year (jumping from about $39.6B to $40.4B), which is much smaller growth than the 24.28 percent jump the company saw in Q1 2022 and the 30.11 percent bump in Q1 2021. Right now, search is seeing significant competition from all sides. Microsoft is trying to steal users away from Google with its AI-powered Bing chatbot, which became more widely available last month . And many people are turning to other tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT to search for and learn... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/rxpa2dC

Microsoft Q3 2023: Windows, devices, and Xbox down again

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Image: The Verge Microsoft just posted the third quarter of its 2023 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $52.9 billion in revenue and a net income of $18.3 billion during Q3. Revenue is up 7 percent, and net income has increased by 9 percent. While Windows, Xbox, and devices revenue have all been hit hard this quarter, Microsoft’s cloud, office, and server businesses have made up for weaknesses elsewhere. Microsoft had a tough quarter for Windows and devices revenue last quarter, and Q3 isn’t much different. Windows OEM revenue, the price that PC manufacturers pay Microsoft to put Windows on laptops and PCs, fell by 28 percent in Q3. Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Microsoft’s devices revenue has dropped... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/xSaIFYn

The latest viral Drake AI hit is just a repurposed SoundCloud rap

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Photo by Prince Williams/Wireimage AI Drake has struck again, and the latest track shows just how easy it is for someone to use a familiar celebrity voice to make a song go viral. The track, called “Not a Game,” first emerged on SoundCloud and YouTube late last week and arrived only days after a song from someone named Ghostwriter went viral for featuring Drake’s AI-generated voice . “Not a Game” got mentions in both TMZ and the Daily Mail , shining even more of a spotlight on the track. But it turns out, “Not a Game” isn’t exactly a brand-new song. The Verge found that the track is composed of multiple preexisting elements, with the primary new addition being the Drake voice. The fakers took the vocals from this a cappella rap posted to Looperman, a site that hosts audio... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/QL4lxqz

Twitter alternatives for the Musk-averse

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter users (and ex-users) are still watching to see what the next chapter will be in the soap opera called “What Elon Musk will do with Twitter next.” Start a small war with Substack ? Temporarily replace its bird logo with a Doge ? The possibilities seem endless. If you’re becoming bored with the whole thing, and you want to continue following social networking without having to deal with Twitter, where do you go? We’ve looked around and found several possible alternatives. Most don’t have the size and scale of Twitter, and it’s hard to say if any of them will attract enough followers to give it a run for its money. Some of them ape the real-time feed of Twitter, but most provide a different take on what a social network can look... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/Yqt1ZSU

Update: We won! — The Verge is nominated for three Webby Awards, and you can help us win!

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Update Tuesday, April 25th, 2:05am ET: The 27th Annual Webby Award winners have been announced, and The Verge is taking home THREE Webbys this year! Best in Technology Video: Full Frame with Becca Farsace Webby Winner & Webby’s People’s Voice Winner Best in Technology Podcasts: The Vergecast Webby’s People’s Voice Winner This was a record-breaking award season with over 14,000 entries and 2.5 million votes cast. In addition to our People’s Voice wins, we are also Webby Winners, meaning that our work ranked in the top 4 percent of work judged by the Webby Academy. (Woo!) Thank you all so much for the support. We can’t wait to go on stage and share our five-word speech in just a few weeks in NYC! Apr 18th, 2023, 7:30AM ET: The... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/UxiTuKc

Apple’s App Store can stay closed but developers can link to outside payments, says appeals court

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Illustration: The Verge An appeals court has upheld the status quo in Epic’s antitrust lawsuit against Apple, affirming a decision that was largely a victory for Apple. In a ruling delivered on Monday , the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals found that Apple’s closed app store and security restrictions didn’t violate antitrust law, but that Apple couldn’t maintain anti-steering rules that prevent users from learning about alternate payment options. “There is a lively and important debate about the role played in our economy and democracy by online transaction platforms with market power,” the ruling states. “Our job as a federal Court of Appeals, however, is not to resolve that debate—nor could we even attempt to do so. Instead, in this decision, we faithfully... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/wMPmEot

A big update brings the Kindle Scribe closer to being good

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Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge It’s almost an understatement to say Amazon’s Kindle Scribe fell short of our expectations when it first launched, but perhaps there’s hope yet for Amazon’s first 10.2-inch e-reader and writing device. Today, the company launched four new Kindle Scribe features mostly focused on improving the lackluster note-taking experience. Truth be told, they’re relatively minor updates, but any change helps. First up, Amazon introduced a “Bird’s Eye View” button in the Kindle Scribe Notebook app, which you can access from the top menu when you’re on a notebook page. Clicking on it gives you a preview of nine notebook pages and also allows you to quickly add, delete, or move any of them around. You can also swipe to the next nine pages for faster... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/huC3RdZ

Create generative AI video-to-video right from your phone with Runway’s iOS app

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Runway’s new iOS app is its first available for mobile. | Image: Runway AI startup Runway has launched its first mobile app on iOS, letting people use the company’s video-to-video generative AI model — Gen-1 — directly from their phones. You can download the app here , with free users offered a limited number of credits. Gen-1 allows you to transform an existing video based on a text, image, or video input. Functionally, it works a lot like a style transfer tool (though, unlike style transfer, it generates entirely new videos as an output rather than applying filters). You can upload a video of someone cycling in the park, for example, and apply an aesthetic or theme. You can give the video the look of a watercolor painting or charcoal sketch, and so on. Of course, because this is a generative AI, the output... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/FlEiPwQ

The next game from Genshin Impact’s developer is out on April 26th

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Honkai: Star Rail. | Image: HoYoverse The studio behind the massively popular online fantasy RPG Genshin Impact is back this week with its next game. Called Honkai: Star Rail , the game looks similar to Genshin but with more of a sci-fi twist. That means slick anime visuals, large worlds to explore, and a seemingly never-ending list of things to do, thanks to its live-service nature. Here’s the basic premise: Implanted with a Stellaron, the protagonist bravely set sail for the galaxy to drill down to the truth surrounding the so-called Cancer of All Worlds. Players will able to experience a vast universe abundant in distinctive cultures, landscapes, and scenery. From Herta Space Station where the story starts and you receive the prerequisite knowledge for the forthcoming... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/IUGDp3l

Here’s where you can preorder Nintendo’s Zelda-inspired Switch OLED

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The Nintendo Switch OLED Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Edition is available to preorder for $359.99. | Image: Nintendo We’re now just a few days away from Nintendo’s Zelda-inspired Nintendo Switch OLED launch on April 28th. The special-edition console retails for $359.99 and commemorates one of this year’s most anticipated video games, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom , which will drop alongside a new Zelda -themed controller and carrying case two weeks later, on May 12th. Where to preorder the Nintendo Switch OLED Tears of the Kindom Edition For those eager to get their hands on the limited-edition console first, you can still preorder it directly from Nintendo as well as Amazon and Best Buy . Unlike the standard Switch, the Switch OLED boasts a vibrant seven-inch OLED display, 64GB of storage, and an improved kickstand, along with a handful of... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/6gTdIJj

The Skullcandy Jib True 2 wireless earbuds are a worthy impulse buy at just $16.99

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The Jib True 2 come in some funky colors, but today’s deal is only on the light gray and blue combo. | Image: Skullcandy I keep rubbing my eyes, thinking my vision must be off, but these wireless earbuds are really on sale for less than one Jackson. That’s right, the Skullcandy Jib True 2 Bluetooth earbuds are just $16.99 ($23 off) at Amazon in their gray-and-blue color combo. These ultra-affordable buds often sell for around $24, but this is a new low that makes them an easy choice for a child or anyone on a tight budget seeking wireless convenience. The Jib True 2 aren’t going to win any awards in the sound department, but while their predecessors were a little overly bass-y, they were more than serviceable for the low price. Plus, this new model has built-in Tile tracking to help locate a missing bud should you misplace one. So they’re not just for... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/VolZQnc

The Verge’s favorite pet tech

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Olivia. | Photo by Helen Havlak / The Verge If you’ve got a pet, it’s likely you have something cool that you use to either feed the pet, amuse the pet, watch the pet, track the pet, or travel with the pet. Well, the folks here at The Verge are no different: many have animal companions whom they feed, pamper, worry about — even obsess about — and totally enjoy. We asked our co-workers to tell us about some of the techie (and not-so-techie) gadgets that they use to keep their pets clean, fed, and amused — along with portraits of the much-loved dogs and cats. We’ve got some great photos to show you. Enjoy. Aslan Mitchell Clark, former news writer Photo by Mitchell Clark Aslan. We got the WOpet automatic feeder after our vet informed us that our cat Aslan... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/sZboyvA

Apple’s mixed reality headset could connect to a battery pack that looks like the iPhone’s

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The Apple MagSafe Battery Pack attached to an iPhone 12 Mini. | Image: Dieter Bohn / The Verge More details are emerging about the design of Apple’s long-awaited mixed reality headset ahead of its expected unveiling on June 5th. Bloomberg ’s Mark Gurman reports that the headset’s external battery pack — which is designed to sit in the user’s pocket during use — will have a similar design to Apple’s MagSafe iPhone battery pack and will use a proprietary connector to attach to the headset. This circular connector is reportedly magnetic and designed to lock into the headset during use with a twist so it can’t be accidentally detached. Meanwhile, the opposite end of the cable is reportedly hardwired into the battery pack. The two “aren’t separable,” Bloomberg reports. So if this power cable develops a fault, it sounds like there’s no... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/KFCm7GM

Twitter claims dead celebs are subscribing to Blue from beyond the grave

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge After chief twit Elon Musk made good on his promise to remove Twitter accounts’ legacy verification blue ticks last week , numerous high-profile accounts now appear to be re -verified — including a number of dead celebrities. It’s likely that the re-appearance of their blue ticks is part of a wider (but unannounced) scheme by Twitter to restore verification to users with over one million followers . But hover over the blue ticks of the accounts of dead celebs, and Twitter will tell you they’re verified “because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number.” Michael Jackson, Chadwick Boseman, Kobe Bryant, Barbara Walters, Anthony Bourdain, and Paul Walker are just a few of the many deceased stars to have regained... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/I13wZWO

Every gadget we’ve X-rayed with a Lumafield CT scanner

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See inside a few of our favorite things — retro, modern, you name it. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/02Kq7uH

Google’s gigantic San Jose campus is on hold

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The real historic water building faces the Guadalupe River; an artist took some liberties. | Image: Google Google has been gobbling up bigger and bigger patches of Silicon Valley for as long as we’ve reported on the company, but it may be pulling back from its biggest development yet — after razing small parts of San Jose to the ground. CNBC reports that following the first demolition phase, Google has halted construction on its “Downtown West” campus, which was slated to turn 80 acres of downtown San Jose, California into 7.3 million square feet of offices, 4,000 housing units, 50,000 square feet of retail and cultural space, and 15 acres of parks. The city believed the project could reach a value of $19 billion and offer 20,000 jobs after more than a decade of work. Google isn’t denying the report, with spokesperson Bailey Tomson providing... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/I9My3t0

Tesla wins lawsuit that blamed Autopilot for crash

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Tesla has won a lawsuit that tried to blame the company’s Autopilot driver assist software for a 2019 crash, Reuters reports . The jurors in the case found that the software wasn’t at fault in a crash where the car turned into a median on a city street while Autopilot was engaged. The jury awarded plaintiff Justine Hsu, who sued Tesla in 2020, no damages. The trial is believed to be the first regarding Autopilot, and could prove to be an important case if Tesla faces future lawsuits over the technology. While Reuters reports that the result of the trial “is not legally binding in other cases,” Tesla is under intense scrutiny for its Autopilot and its Full Self-Driving driver assistance features, which don’t make its cars fully autonomous... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/GHvkQp5

Steam Deck, ROG Ally and more: all the news about the handheld PC gaming revolution

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Valve’s Steam Deck and its carrying case. | Image: Valve Catch up on our coverage of PC gaming handhelds, starting with Valve’s category-defining Steam Deck. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/uLaonrV

The Mandalorian’s season 3 finale didn’t need to answer every question

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Din Grogu piloting IG-12. | Image: Lucasfilm / Disney Plus Rather than dotting every single i and crossing all of its t’s The Mandalorian spent its extremely adequate third season trying to forge new lore for lore’s sake. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/y1jU7Wl

Schools bought millions of Chromebooks in 2020 — and three years later, they’re starting to break

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Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Back in early 2020, as the covid pandemic drove classrooms online, school districts found themselves needing to bulk purchase affordable laptops that they could send home with their students. Quite a few turned to Chromebooks. Three years later, the US Public Interest Research Group Education Fund concludes in a new report called Chromebook Churn that many of these batches are already beginning to break. That’s potentially costing districts money; PIRG estimates that “doubling the lifespan of Chromebooks could result in $1.8 billion in savings for taxpayers.” It also creates quite a bit of e-waste. One of the big problems is repairability. Chromebooks are harder to upgrade and repair, on average, than Windows laptops. That’s in part,... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/4gTKeVn

AMD is quietly arming an entire new wave of Steam Deck competitors

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AMD’s Ryzen 7000 series will apparently add some lower power chips for handhelds. | Image: AMD via Aokzoe You’ve obviously heard of the Steam Deck , and perhaps Asus drew your attention to the upcoming ROG Ally with its not-an-April-Fools’-joke . But that’s apparently just the tip of the iceberg for AMD-powered Steam Deck rivals, which have at least four handhelds based on slivers of silicon the chipmaker has yet to reveal. One of the reasons we got so excited about the Asus ROG Ally is that Asus hinted it might be the first handheld since Steam Deck to offer a custom part specifically tuned for portables — and a growing body of leaks suggests that collaboration with AMD is called the Ryzen Z1. pic.twitter.com/Mu6kcCxXmi — Hifihedgehog (@hifihedgehog) April 18, 2023 And today, Geekbench leaks (which should always be taken with a grain... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/qEtUFzO

To capture CO2 in the US, climate tech startups partner with oil and gas

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Collector containers at the Orca direct air capture and storage facility, operated by Climeworks AG, in Hellisheidi, Iceland, on September 7th, 2021.  | Image: Arnaldur Halldorsson/Bloomberg via Getty Images Climeworks, the Swiss company that’s capturing CO2 emissions for Microsoft, Stripe, and Shopify , is crafting plans to expand across the US, which is becoming the destination for companies that want to suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. “The US is a very interesting place, perhaps the most interesting place at the moment ... from a market perspective, but also from a policy perspective,” says Christoph Beuttler, Climeworks’ chief climate policy officer. The Inflation Reduction Act more than tripled tax credits for direct air capture (DAC) and storage projects. And the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law includes $12 billion for capturing and storing carbon dioxide. Together with other partners, Climeworks has applied for a slice... Continue reading… from The Ve

Street Fighter 6 gets a new demo that’s available now on PlayStation

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Image: Capcom Street Fighter 6 comes out in a little over a month, but if you want to get warmed up before the game’s full release, you can check out a new demo on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 right now. If you’re on Xbox Series X / S or PC, the demo will be available on April 26th. As part of the demo, you’ll be able to try out part of the game’s World Tour single-player mode, and build a custom avatar for World Tour that can be transferred to the full game at launch. (Well, as long you end up playing the full game on the same platform.) Capcom revealed the demo as part of Thursday’s Street Fighter 6 Showcase, which was chock-full of new details about the game. Here’s just a few: There will be four characters added in the game’s first year:... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/4nwDoFs

This is the F-150 Lightning fire that made Ford pause production

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Image: CNBC A new video obtained by CNBC gives us a first look at the fire that engulfed a set of Ford F-150 Lightnings in a Dearborn, Michigan, holding lot earlier this year. This heavily edited version of the video shows police arriving on the scene as smoke billows from a group of electric trucks tucked in the back of the lot. “Let’s hope it doesn’t blow up,” one police officer says during the video. “The smoke is clear as day.” In February, Ford suspended production the production of and recalled some of its Ford F-150 Lightnings after one of the vehicles caught fire while charging and spread to two neighboring trucks. Ford eventually traced the cause of the fire to a “rare” issue affecting the vehicle’s battery , which is made by South Korean... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/72NW3gt

Twitter says LeBron James and other celebs are paying for verification even though they aren’t

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge Twitter’s blue check apocalypse is here , and some celebrities still have verified badges even though they aren’t paying for it. LeBron James has perhaps been the most famous hater of paid verification on Twitter, insisting that, like Martin Lawrence’s TV show character, “ I ain’t paying the $5 .” But if you check his profile right now , he still has a verified badge. Once you hover over the badge, it says that “this account is verified because they are subscribed to Twitter Blue and verified their phone number.” But we contacted James’ media advisor, Adam Mendelsohn, who confirmed that James hasn’t paid the $8 monthly fee. Many other NBA players, like Stephen Curry, Zion Williamson, and Ja Morant, appeared to have lost their blue checks on... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/zX74wy2

PlayStation acquires Firewalk Studios, which is building an ‘original AAA multiplayer game’

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Image: PlayStation Sony is acquiring Firewalk Studios from ProbablyMonsters to help build an “original AAA multiplayer game” for PlayStation 5 and PC, Sony announced on Thursday . Sony has been investing heavily in multiplayer games recently, acquiring Destiny maker Bungie and Jade Raymond-led Haven Interactive Studios last year, and it revealed in February 2022 that it’s planning to release more than 10 live service games before March 2026 . We don’t know much about the new game just yet, but Sony’s head of PlayStation Studios, Hermen Hulst, noted in a PlayStation blog post that “we continue to be impressed by the team’s ambitions to build a modern multiplayer game that connects players in new and innovative ways.” In a press release, he added, “I think... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/oxVfaY3

The best Sonos speakers to buy right now

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Sonos has a speaker for practically every price point. | Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge Sonos has an ever-growing lineup, and after you’ve bought your first speaker, you’ll likely want to put one in every room. Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/kY9TrNw

The Game Awards anniversary concert will have music from Hades, Elden Ring, and more

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Image: The Game Awards Geoff Keighley’s putting on a show. I don’t mean E3 killing Summer Game Fest but an actual music concert celebrating 10 years of The Game Awards. The announcement doesn’t include a Coachella-style lineup of acts like a typical concert announcement would; rather, it’s a listing of game music you’ll hear during the performance. There are 12 games that’ll be featured during the concert, including past game of the year winners like The Last of Us and a smattering of music from the most popular or most anticipated games to come, like Final Fantasy XVI and Starfield . You can also expect to hear the musical stylings of Hades , Elden Ring , and God of War, of course, but the concert also features music from gaming-adjacent media like the League of... Continue reading… from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/BoVnzsZ